The picture above is of the Indian football team playing the 1948 London Olympics.Azad India’s football team did not have enough money to buy shoes.Some players wore socks & others played barefoot.This was the time when Nehru’s clothes went to Paris to be dry-cleaned pic.twitter.com\/CtQkWVYa4V<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Kavi\ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf3\ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf3\ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf3 (@kavita_tewari) July 26, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The collage is massively widespread on Facebook<\/a>.<\/p>\n The claim has been circulating since 2018. Facebook page, Social Tamasha<\/a>, wrote on July 19, 2018, “\u0910\u0938\u0947 \u0925\u0947 \u0915\u093e\u0902\u0917\u094d\u0930\u0947\u0938 \u0928\u0935\u093e\u092c\u094b\u0902 \u0915\u0947 \u0920\u093e\u0920 (<\/span><\/span>such was the pomp of Congress’ nawabs).” The post similarly said that the Indian football team did not have shoes when Nehru’s dog was travelling in aeroplanes.<\/p>\n \u0910\u0938\u0947 \u0925\u0947 \u0915\u093e\u0902\u0917\u094d\u0930\u0947\u0938 \u0928\u0935\u093e\u092c\u094b\u0902 \u0915\u0947 \u0920\u093e\u0920<\/p>\n Posted by Social Tamasha<\/a> on\u00a0Thursday, 19 July 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n Another Facebook page Bharat Positive <\/a>had shared the same image with their page logo on November 4, 2018. At the time of writing this article, it had accumulated close to 6,900 shares and 10,000 likes. Many Facebook users<\/a> also shared similar claims.<\/p>\n Alt News reverse searched the images on Google and found that they are genuine. An article published by Frontline<\/a> carries an image where Talimeren Ao, India’s first football captain was shaking hands with G. Robert, captain of the French team. Whereas, Nehru’s photograph was found on a website owned by The Times of India Group called Times Content<\/a>. According to the website, this image was clicked around January 1961.<\/p>\n So, while the images are genuine, is there any truth to the claim that Indian players were forced to play barefoot because of a lack of finances and support from the Indian government?<\/p>\n Before the Indian football team was selected for the 1948 Olympics on May 7, 1948, the players had to play two trial matches for team selection. An Indian Express<\/a> report published on the same day stated, “The first of the two trial matches for the selection of the Indian football team for the London Olympics was played today on the Calcutta F.C ground before a fairly big crowd. All the players turned out in boots, owing to the ground having become greasy after a heavy mid-day shower.<\/strong>” Based on this report, it was evident that the players had soccer boots even before the tournament started.<\/p>\n While the players definitely had boots before the tournament, did they carry them along to London? Alt News found a copy of the 1948 schedule<\/a> of the Indian Olympics football team tour of Europe. Based on the schedule of matches, we looked up reportage for various matches.<\/p>\n We found a September 1, 1948 report published in the British daily Birmingham Daily Gazette by an English sports journalist named John Camkin<\/a>. The report was about the match between India and Boldmere St Michaels FC on August 31, 1948, in which Camkin reported that the Indian players were forced to play in boots because of the damp ground – “The tourist had been compelled to take to boots, a most unusual item of football gear to them, because of the heavy rain that fell throughout their game with the heroes of last season’s Amateur Cup……..The Indians were undoubtedly handicapped by the boots and general conditions-one said afterwards that normally they would have scored another four goals- but their snappy ground passing left no doubt as to their formidable quality on dry pitches.” Based on the below reportage, it was evident that Indian players had boots during the tour of which the London Olympics was a part.<\/p>\n We also found further evidence of Indian players having access to boots during the London Olympics. In his book, ‘Stories from Indian Football’, journalist Jaydeep Basu<\/a> has also quoted a statement from B.D Chatterjee, Indian football coach, according to which Chatterjee said,\u00a0“They had boots with them in case they prone to yielding in which case they would wear them but they prefer to play in their bare feet\u201d. <\/strong>According to a report by The Hindu<\/a>, this\u00a0statement was given to Reuters during one of the pre-Olympics friendly matches that India played against the Metropolitan Police on July 16, 1948.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2018\/11\/06862404-9efc-4727-bd1e-63d02fe234e0.jpg\")
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<\/p>\nWere Indian footballers made to play barefoot?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Indian players had boots: Selection camp, Calcutta<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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